


Sacrifice

by Flarenwrath



Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, World of Warcraft
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-19 06:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22006594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flarenwrath/pseuds/Flarenwrath
Summary: Kael'thas has failed so many times and now that he has joined forces with the Illidari, he refuses to do so again.
Relationships: Illidan Stormrage/Kael'thas Sunstrider
Comments: 6
Kudos: 49
Collections: World of Warcraft Gift Exchange 2019





	Sacrifice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FrostFire425](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostFire425/gifts).



> Merry Crimmus

Kael’thas pulled his cloak tight around himself to stave off the growing chill. The wind was strongest on the ramparts of the Black Temple and the air bitterly cold. Despite the Felfire erupting from what was left of the planet’s core, the flames were useless against the encroaching void of the planet’s dying atmosphere. Even his own verdant spheres that circled him closely were of little help as another gust whipped past him, the air stinging his cheeks.

The two young magisters that had accompanied him seemed to be faring just as well. One young woman all but shivered as she slowly inched closer to her counterpart.

“My prince!” the darker-haired one with eyes that still stubbornly clung to their blue glow called out to him. 

Kael’thas should have remembered her name. But with the growing weight of his continued failures of securing a cure for his people, certain details he had once prided himself on mastering seemed to slip away. Her flashing blue eyes met his own fel green ones, only adding to his failures.

“When were we to expect Lord Illidan?” she asked as she wrapped an arm around the waist of the younger woman who had since given in to her shivering and had pressed against her for warmth. It was the same question Kael’thas was beginning to ask himself: the Lord of the Illidari never seemed to care about what his followers went through so long as his goals were being achieved.

No sooner had he thought it, than when they heard telltale sounds of clicking hooves on stone above the howling of the wind that signaled Illidan and his Illidari’s approach.

“Kael’thas!” Illidan’s voice boomed, and Kael’thas turned back around to meet him. “We have need of your mages.” Kael’thas clenched his jaw to keep from frowning. Somehow everything Illidan asked for always came across as a demand, a statement of fact instead of a choice.

His silence was the only acknowledgement Illidan seemed to require, as he tossed a stone that Kael’thas easily caught. The prince turned the object over in his hand briefly before recognizing it as a Legion Waystone. His green eyes flashed up to Illidan’s own blinded ones, seeking clarity.

“You and your mages will open this portal while we attend to some Demon filth.” A few of the Illidari behind Illidan smirked when he said it. Kael’thas noted that there were more of his people amongst the Illidari’s ranks then there were the last time he had seen Illidan’s 'children.' He wondered if losing them was also to be another mark of his failures as a leader.

“Fine,” Kael’thas agreed begrudgingly, as he clenched the Waystone tight enough to press its sharp edges deep enough into his palm to sting. “But you should hurry, we will not be able to hold it open for long.” Illidan, to his own credit, seemed to acknowledge the severity of the warning, and gave Kael’thas a bow of his horns in understanding.

Kael’thas turned back to the young magisters who had since separated in an attempt to look less affected by the elements than they truly were in the face of the Lord of the Black Temple. He held the Waystone up and closed his eyes, feeling the warm tingling rush of magic flow through him from his core, down his arm, to his fingertips, and into the fel-infused rock until it floated free from his hand. The two magisters then joined in their own power, one an icy current sharper than the cold air around them and the other sharp that smelt of ozone. He opened his eyes in time to see the portal crack open and expose a gateway to a world he couldn’t even describe.

No sooner had the portal been open than the Illidari dashed straight into it, their snarls making them resemble hounds more than the elves they once were. Kael’thas’s eyes flashed over to Illidan who simply stood there, watching with pride as his children took the vengeance he had long promised them.

“We will make this quick,” Illidan growled as he unsheathed his glaives and walked towards the portal, the clacking of his hooves echoing in the air around them. “Hold the portal until we return.”

When Illidan and the last of his Illidari had entered, Kael’thas looked to his magisters noting the sweat already forming on their brow from using their magic to brute force a demon artifact open. “Easier said than done…” he hissed to himself under his breath as he began to focus entirely on the task at hand.

Time passed by differently when one was channeling magic. Perhaps it was the concentration that was required for the task, or perhaps it was the rush of unleashing the built-up power inside oneself, but Kael’thas didn’t realize how long it had been until the younger Magister girl collapsed to her knees. Almost immediately the portal waned, the image of the other planet briefly flickering in and out of existence.

“Pull it together!” he yelled to the other Magister as he reached deep inside his core to compensate for the loss of their third. The dark haired woman did the same, despite her body beginning to tremble from the sheer exertion of it. His body ached from the strain of so much mana coursing through him, and time once again slipped from him. It wasn’t until the first of the Illidari tumbled back through the portal that he snapped back into the present.

“I. Can’t. Hold. It.” the woman warned, giving Kael’thas the moment he needed to consume the energies from his fiery spheres for a final push before she collapsed into unconsciousness on the stone floor.

Kael’thas ground his teeth as the portal flickered again. Not nearly enough Illidari had yet returned and if he failed now, there would be truly no coming back. Pressing his eyes closed once more he focused on the flow of the flames inside of him, the raw force of it unleashing and burning away through his veins. His legs trembled beneath him, barely able to withstand his own weight, and his arms felt like they were being engulfed by the very flames he was channeling through them.

Through his bleary haze he could hear the roar of something monstrous and the loud crack of steel on steel. He dared to open his eyes only to see the portal flickering once more as another Illidari dashed through to safety. The world slipped and for a moment he thought he was standing with Rommath and Astalor at the precipice of the corrupted Sunwell once more. A tear ran down his cheek as one had then when he last felt the last spark die out inside him. 

The telltale sound of a portal cracking shut exploded in front of him and he collapsed to all fours on the stone. He shakily gasped for breath as he desperately tried to ignite that spark once more inside his core-

“You have done well, Prince,” a familiar booming voice behind him crooned. He felt a clawed hand press against his shoulder and the ever present hunger in him ached for the power it held, “Rest now.”

And perhaps there were magic in those words that took ahold of him or perhaps he simply needed the approval to let go, but after that he slipped into a dark and dreamless sleep

~.~.~.~.~

When Kael’thas awoke it was to a pain shooting through his whole body. He let out a muffled cry into the plush pillow of a couch he was laid out on, as a bone-deep exhaustion took root.

The Magisters had taught all young mages about the effects of mana drain and why it was so important to never push yourself this far, but those lessons also never explained that ‘never’ really didn't apply to a prince who must sacrifice for his people.

“You’re awake,” a loud voice noted, booming from somewhere else in the room. “I had expected you to rest longer.”

It took Kael’thas a moment longer than he would have liked for the fog in his mind to clear enough for him to realize a few things: no longer was he in his full heavy armor, but the simple robes he wore underneath and the voice speaking to him belonged to none other than Illidan himself. 

With his body aching so, he could only manage to turn his face towards the sound of the Demon Hunter.

Illidan sat across from him on a backless chair with one of his glaives upon his lap while the other rested to his side. From what Kael’thas could put together, it looked like he was in the middle of cleaning them. Illidan gently placed both the glaive and the bit of greased cloth he was using to clean it down next to its twin before standing and rolling his broad shoulders in a stretch. 

Watching Illidan’s muscles pull across his chest only highlighted the sharp ache that Kael’thas’s own were in. He must have made some sort of sound, because Illidan's sightless eyes focused on him.

“The Illidari are unique creatures in this world,” Illidan started as he made his way closer to where Kael’thas was resting. In return, Kael’thas used what energy he had to push through the agony that laced through him so that he was sitting with his back against the armrest. “They are willing to sacrifice everything.”

Illidan came to a stop mere inches away from him, his sightless eyes looking down at Kael’thas’s own dimly glowing ones.

A silence fell upon them both and Kael’thas wondered what it was that Illidan was thinking when suddenly the Demon Hunter knelt in front of him.

“Your people make for good Illidari because they learned what sacrifice means from you.” Kael’thas wasn’t quite sure what Illidan meant by that but with the Demon Hunter so close, his throat tightened to the point that he was incapable of asking.

So caught up in his own thoughts or perhaps due to his exhaustion dulling his senses in fog, Kael’thas didn't even register Illidan’s hand moving until the tips of his claw-like nails brushed against his scalp. The delicate pressure of his nails quickly gave way to surprisingly soft fingertips as Illidan ran his fingers through Kael’thas’s hair.

How long had it been since someone had touched him like that? How long had it been since someone had tried to comfort him? His childhood had been wrought with expectations instead of sympathy and even those he considered his friends had always acknowledged his title before any other bonds they might have forged.

And maybe it was that combined with his already weakened state that made him crack.

Kael’thas let out a soft whining sigh and leaned into Illidan’s touch, which Illidan only encouraged in force. He ran his fingers once more through the prince’s hair, thumbing the sensitive parts of his ear as he did so.

“I see what others do not,” he crooned as he continued to gently stroke Kael’thas’s hair, “You know what truly matters in this world and you are willing to do whatever it takes.”

Illidan’s words struck him harder than he would have expected. Praise? Now? Even after everything he had done? A sound caught somewhere between a laugh and a sob died in his throat. Kael’thas hadn’t realized he had been crying until Illidan’s thumb brushed away a stray tear.

“You will not fail,” Illidan’s words sounded so sure, and Kael’thas wanted desperately to believe in them. 

Kael’thas wasn't sure who initiated it, but then Illidan’s forehead was pressed against his own and both of them had tangled a hand in the other’s long hair. The Demon Hunter’s large horns from this distance no longer felt foreign and intimidating, and instead filled him with the sense of protection.

“I will not let you,” his words murmured again, so sure of himself as though the Illidari was privy to some universal secret that was hidden from him. He wanted to ask more, to understand whatever it was that Illidan apparently knew, but Kael’thas’s exhaustion once again took hold of him and he succumbed. This time Illidan’s strong hands were there to carefully lay him back down onto the couch. 

He had expected Illidan to leave after that but to his amazement, instead he stayed. Seemingly contented to stroke Kael’thas’s hair and whisper soft praises to him while he slipped back into slumber.

~.~.~.~.~


End file.
